


Vessels and Transmissions

by NekoMida



Category: German Mythology
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Body Horror, F/M, Human/Monster Romance, Little Mermaid Elements, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 22:06:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20378863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoMida/pseuds/NekoMida
Summary: Two worlds collide in the far future, going where no man has ever gone before.





	Vessels and Transmissions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruis/gifts).

> I absolutely loved the prompts associated with this request, and I used all of my sci-fi knowledge to work into something tangible. There's a hint of romance, but it's not extremely prevalent.
> 
> Thank you to my two beta readers! You're awesome <3 
> 
> I was also inspired by two albums by Starset--Vessels and Transmissions. They are excellent as accompaniment pieces to listen to while you read.

Space, the final frontier.

Where everything was supposed to be new, and the unknown was chased out of bounds as humanity learned everything there was to know about the universe. New creatures, new worlds, and places to move on to, expanding into every known corner until the assumption was made that humanity was alone in the universe. Until outliers began to whisper about the space beyond, that the others who dared to explore never returned from. It was all put off as something superstitious, with decades passing and the same tale reoccuring over and over, never anything added on.

That was, until she was found in the most unlikely of ways.

Shipments had started moving across the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, easing their way around the more navigable asteroids and making their way towards the outer planet. Stopping on 4 Vesta was necessary for refueling and restocking. Streaks of light passed through the empty void of space as the ship docked into port, and the crew departed from the ship. Bright LEDs flickered into existence as footsteps activated the motion sensors, leading the crew to an interior cabin to decompress and to decontaminate them from cosmic particulate radiation. Once the red lights flickered off to signal all clear, the hiss of decontamination complete over the comms prompted the doors to open.

Inside the space port, there were small places to eat with food from all over the universe converted from dehydrated capsules, a small hostel-like cabin space to rest in with private rooms that cost only a few credits, an exercise area with slightly dated equipment, and a long walking bridge that gave views over the expanse of 4 Vesta. Several of the crew departed to their own pleasures and vices, while a single member stayed behind to walk along the bridge. Each step he took was a lonely one, looking into the wide expanse of space, cold and dark. Distant stars winked in and out, shielded with the rest of the asteroid belt, but a glimmer of color caught his eye.

Gloved fingers pressed up against the double-paned glass, curious to see if it happened again. Perhaps he was seeing things; long periods in space tended to do that to any person involved. One tended to get a bit stir-crazy, similar to the effects of cabin-fever. But there it was again, just as he went to turn away, doubting that he’d seen anything in the first place. A striking shimmer of color, streaking through the line of sight like a lightning bolt before it was gone again. The man almost felt as if something was playing with him, daring him to look closer and longer. He was weary from travel, making his way towards the dining hall. He saw the streak of color one last time before he was away from the windows.

A few credits would buy him several of the food capsules, his taste buds longing for just an inkling of the food back on Earth. Rehydrated bratwursts and sauerkraut were just not the same taste he could remember having; maybe he’d have something when he went back home. He longed for the sharpness of mustard, the delicate tang of sauerkraut and onions in a warm bun alongside a juicy beer-soaked bratwurst. Nostalgia only made him lonelier, because the only reason he’d come into space in the first place was that there was nothing left for him there anymore--his family had long since passed, and he had never managed to keep even a pet for himself, let alone a relationship.

Dumping his tray with the food half-eaten, the man walked to the hostel, paid for his private room, and sat on the provided bed. Stiff, but manageable; all under the influence of artificial gravity. At least it wasn’t a cryo-pod, or a cot that one would have to be strapped to in order to not float away in the night. It was tight, but homey, with a double-paned window to the right side that overlooked the bed, a small set of drawers, and two touch-options to screen the window and turn the lights on and off. The bathroom was in the corner, cramped with floating shower head and a toilet with sink combo that recycled water from washing one’s hands as the flushing mechanism.

He preferred to leave the window ‘open’, to see the little light streaming in before the skies darkened as 4 Vesta turned away from the stars. The entire port went dark save for the LEDs that lit up the halls. His own room was dark, until an unfamiliar color flashed in front of the window right as he was lulled into sleep. Sitting up in bed, he looked to the window with curiosity and annoyance, finding nothing other than space.

Suddenly, there was a face staring at him.

The man fell back to the bed as dark eyes stared at him, intelligence gleaming behind them. It was like having a supernova at his window--the colors shifted in ultraviolet radiance, nearly painful in intensity. Not to mention that some of the radiation detectors had started to rise rapidly--whatever this was, it was radioactive and full of life. What looked like hands, tipped in tiny claws, pressed against the window, leaving an almost imprint behind, before the creature disappeared with another flash of color. He was dumbfounded, before coming to the window as he rubbed his eyes.

Among the vast emptiness, there it swam, looking all the more like a mermaid from the old folktales back home. Except there was no hair, only the explosion of ultraviolet light behind its head, and the ‘tail’ mirrored it, long and graceful. There seemed to be markings on it he didn’t recognize, but, if the man had to guess, was akin to a deep sea fish. They ran along the body, twinkling like tiny stars along the colorful, shimmering length. He could hardly believe it as it swam closer--for that was what it was doing, swimming in a place with no water, no air--and paused a distance away from him.

And then, there was a humming sound, something reminiscent of the static on an old radio. He suspected it was trying to communicate, but he shook his head. There wasn’t anything he could translate with, and, as far as the man knew, nothing could translate this creature’s calls. He couldn’t recall seeing anything like it before in any of the texts for alien lifeforms. He’d have to look in the morning, before the others were awake, and before they were set to go back on mission. But it...she...was looking at him, the membranes of her ‘hair’ and tail flowing with shocking color, unblinking eyes looking through his soul.

Perhaps there was a way to communicate with her. He took the nearest sheet of paper and a rather thick pen, scribbling out his name for her to see. The thought that she couldn’t read didn’t cross his mind until after he’d held it up.

Eberhard.

Foolish of him to think that she might be able to read it; while she seemed intelligent enough, it wasn’t something he could be sure of. Until an almost eldritch sound filled the air outside--it was enough to chill him to his bones, and he recognized it as her speaking his name. He didn’t know how he knew, but that much Eberhard was sure of. It was almost sing-song, enough to send a shiver down his spine again. It felt very unnatural for the moment, and he nodded.

She did something that resembled a giggle, floating around as the colors changed on her form, a brilliant blue amid yellows and greens, before she floated away, membranes swirling seductively around the lithe tail and head. Eberhard guessed she had to be at least eight or so feet long just from a visual estimate. The entire ordeal had ended just as soon as it had begun, and he lay back down to the bed, unsure of what had just occurred. There were so many thoughts running through his head, his heart was racing, and he was unsure if he should report the sighting to someone at the station. 

It was a long while before he relaxed, wondering if the creature would return. What it wanted from him, why it chose to come to him. Eberhard closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he tried to relax and distance himself from the thoughts running rampant in his head. It could wait until tomorrow. Sleep overtook him, the cold blankets and firm pillow doing little to comfort him.

The alarm was ringing outside several hours later, letting him know that his mandatory sleeping period was over. Eberhard stretched, feeling the ache of his muscles as they pulled tightly. Space travel did little favors for the human body, and returning to Earth or anywhere with a similar gravity for long would have heavy implications on recovery. Thankfully, they were off to a station with less gravity than their current one, and Eberhard was glad. Maybe then he could forget about the creature that could have just been a figment of his imagination.

Loading up with a few extra supply packs was long, but the ship had been refueled during the night, and was cleaned to perfection, or as close as one could get in space. Everything was heavily monitored. Thankfully the suits were cleaned so none of the other crew could complain. It was back into cryo-sleep for Eberhard and the others as soon as they were out of range. He hated the idea of being frozen. Coming out of cryo-sleep was just as horrible as going into it. The beds weren’t comfortable and thawing out after months was...unpleasant to say the least.

With a sigh, he boarded with the other crew, and slipped into the suit that kept skin from becoming a frost-bitten mess, thinking that maybe if he was lucky, his sleep would be dreamless. He slipped into his designated pod, and the lid closed over him, monitors slipping onto his temples and beeping slightly to designate they were working properly. He began to feel relaxed, and Eberhard slipped into a deep sleep, frost forming over the pod’s lid as the ship took off with the captain’s designated parameters. Lightspeed would do them favors untold. His eyes closed, thinking of what lay ahead for them at the next station.

~~~~~~~

It was hard to breathe.

Distant beeping made Eberhard open his eyes wearily, and the ice on his pod was thick, but the cabin lights were red. Something was wrong because there was debris flying around the cabin. They were depressurized, and he gasped at the realization that he couldn’t see anything else. He had no way of finding out what had happened--to do so would be to risk a horrible death. Panic set in as his mind wandered, the ice covering on the pod hiding any sort of clue he might have used.

An unearthly noise sounded in the distance, and his blood ran cold. Space didn’t carry sound, at least none that had ever been tried. A tinge of familiarity at the noise made his mind wander, before a clawed hand scraped at the ice, the noise sounding again curiously. Bright light filled the area, and his skin crawled as the pod warmed up slightly from whatever was out there. Another noise sounded--it was similar to the first, but different in pitch, and it made him breathe heavily. The oxygen was still going in his tube, so that was good, but he felt weak, as if he’d been breathing it for too long and it was far too thin to be normal.

Sounds of a scuffle outside of the pod made him try to squint to see what was going on--there was the creature, fighting with something that he could only describe as hungry. It was latching onto her with fury, and she was tearing at it, burning it in places as it touched her skin. Far too incredible to be seen with his own eyes. But she was screaming, tearing at the mystery creature, before it burst into some sort of liquid, and the liquid was acidic; a few drops had landed on his pod and they had sizzled into the thick ice, melting it almost completely down to the thick fiberglass lid.

Her pain echoed in the area, and the clawed hands scraped at the ice a little more, dark eyes shining with intelligence looking over his face. It was intimate, almost, and he coughed at the thin oxygen. She didn’t seem to understand, and was trying to pull him out of the machine, scratching at the metal and thick glass panels that made up the pod’s exterior. Unearthly howling reverberated throughout his bones, and somehow he knew that she was upset, sad that she couldn’t get to him. Something had to be wrong, something only she sensed.

His heart monitor was beeping slower than usual, but the low oxygen wasn’t enough to trigger it--maybe there was a leak somewhere in the pod. Or the gases had become contaminated and he was getting the cryo-gas as well as the oxygen? It would explain why he felt so tired, like his entire body was exhausted. Her eyes were so sad, and there was a wail as he closed his eyes again, returning to sleep.

When he woke again, it was dark, except for a few flashing lights. The ice was still there, and his body was cold, but the oxygen filtration system seemed to be working better, as the air was less thin in his pod. Something was keeping it warm enough to not thaw out the pod, but cool enough to keep him from completely unfreezing...A membrane shimmering with color floated past his view, and he followed it, hand uncertainly pressing into the glass. Quietly, the chill came back up his spine as the creature spoke up, curled around his pod protectively as the eldritch noises came again.

“It’s you...you’re keeping it warm...to keep me from losing too much oxygen…” Talking was still hard, and a series of noises sounded, almost cooing in nature, as her hands and claws pressed into the glass. She had fingers just like they did--only there were five fingers and a thumb on one hand, an anomaly that was probably genetic or due to radiation. Either way, he put his hand under hers, and smiled. “Thanks. I thought you were...kind of scary.” 

She had no nose either, but a slight ridge that looked like it had nostrils in it, and a mouth with terrifyingly sharp-looking teeth as she grinned at him. Thick scales ran down the length of her body, now that he could see, almost like a snake’s skin along the planes of her stomach and hips. The rest of her skin seemed smooth enough, but it was the membranes that made her really stand out, constantly shifting colors and bioluminescent lights blinking along different areas.

In all honesty, he should have been terrified. There was nothing on this kind of creature, nothing at all, but there was a warmth coming from her--because it had to be female, due to the delicacy in which the creature was handling the situation. She was completely curled around the pod, and now he realized that she was at least twice his length, muscles thick and rippling in the tail structure. There was a minor thought in his head that if something like this existed out here...what could be awaiting them on Earth? Deep sea exploration had seen creatures similar to her, but nothing of the scale or magnitude he was experiencing.

Her mouth opened again, a different noise sounding this time. It was like echolocation, if Eberhard had to guess, from the way she kept repeating it after a certain time. It didn’t matter what it was in essence, it made his head ache with pressure, an almost ill feeling taking hold in the pit of his stomach. Human ears weren’t meant to hear the noise, it seemed, and he wanted to clutch his head from the pain. His eyes rolled back in his head, and Eberhard fell victim to sleep once again, forced from wakefulness from the pressure in his head.

~~~~~~~

There was a tapping on the glass of his pod, as Eberhard’s bleary eyes opened. There was light again, brighter than the emptiness of space where he’d last been, curled about with his creature. He could hear voices, but he felt so weak that he could barely lift his head to look around. The ice had melted from his pod, and he was staring at other human beings, all looking in on him concerned as the pod hatch lifted with mechanical squeaking. It hurt his ears, but he wanted to know where the creature was.

“Well, look who’s among the living. We didn’t think you were going to make it.” A man stepped forward, his hands guiding Eberhard into a sitting position. Now he understood why his body felt so weak; his limbs had atrophied severely.

“I...What day is it? We were supposed to be leaving the spaceport on 4 Vesta, heading towards the Outer Rim…” He blinked, and the man looked over a nearby chart, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ve been floating in space for about two weeks. And you’re lucky we found you at all; something had torn open your ship. We kept hearing a ping over the radar system, something like a whale-call. It was super eerie, and we followed it to your ship. Something had eaten the rest of your crew, taken their life support right off the hooks.” The man sat back into a rounded chair, flipping the chart up to review the data there. “You’ve got mild radiation sickness, and you might lose a finger and a few toes, but otherwise you’re unharmed.” A thumb jutted out towards the back of the ship, with a few of the crew members around them shaking their heads.

“Not only are you incredibly lucky, but you managed to attract some odd species as well. It hasn’t left since we brought you on board. Seemed to be panicking, so we tried to chase it off, but it just came back and attached itself to the ship. We’ve got the cocoon in the hold for safekeeping, if you want to take a look at it.”

So that was where she’d gone. She’d saved him and had refused to leave his side, even risking being seen by other humans.

Eberhard nodded, struggling to stand, before someone brought over a wheelchair and helped him into it. There was a strap that held him in place, and they covered his thin limbs with several blankets before taking him to the hold. There was so much to wrap his head around that he could hardly keep things straight in his mind. From the creature, to the ship he was on being torn apart, to her saving him...she’d been following him from the station and it made his stomach ache in a way that felt wriggly, nervous energy pouring through his veins.

There was a window that observed the back end of the hold, with glass that looked similar to a two-way mirror, and the lights flickered to life as the woman wheeling Eberhard’s chair stepped along the corridor. Inside, there was a massive glass container with a large cocoon in the middle, looking similar to an asteroid. In fact, it looked so similar to the asteroids at the spaceport that he stared in disbelief. Was this what happened to the species? Had he found one that hadn’t undergone transformation yet, and had it imprinted on him?

A humming, vibrating sound filled the air, and the cocoon began to shake, rolling around in the container. It hit the sides, causing the glass to violently fracture into spiderwebs, before it stopped, and a familiar eldritch noise filled the air. Eberhard smiled, looking into the face yawning up from below, stretched out in a thick goo among the cocoon’s cracked edges. The eyes were still too large, and the teeth were definitely still sharp, but there she was, his savior. How fitting then, that he whispered the name he would give her.

Lorelei, his Lorelei. No fair maiden, but a horror from his nightmares, turned into savior and friend.


End file.
